This lady was in the lead going into final jeopardy, where the answer was the Falkland Islands. Everyone gets the question "right", but she misspelled "Falkland as "Falklan", so she was penalized for a wrong answer. Alex says something like, "we don't normally penalized people for misspelling, but we have to in this case." She ends up coming in third place because of this. What the hell was that about?

sciguy

03-08-2007, 12:58 PM

From what I remember in previous cases, if the spelling is close enough to be pronounced correctly, then it's accepted as a correct answer. However, in her case, she left off the "d" and the end, which does change the pronunciation. Although how they account for regional dialects (and I can see some dropping a final "d" sounds) I don't know.

Marley23

03-08-2007, 01:04 PM

sciguy is correct, and that seems like a very harsh interpretation of that rule - how many people actually pronounce the d in "Falkland Islands?"

Pleonast

03-08-2007, 01:09 PM

I wondered if "Falklan" refers to something else, but a quick Google search shows that it does not. In fact it seems to be a common misspelling of "Falkland". I'm surprised the answer was thrown out.

brickbacon

03-08-2007, 01:11 PM

I wondered if "Falklan" refers to something else, but a quick Google search shows that it does not. In fact it seems to be a common misspelling of "Falkland". I'm surprised the answer was thrown out.

I googled it too, but I couldn't find anything. That is a really fucked up way to interpret that rule. Esp. since it cost her a lot of money.

Musicat

03-08-2007, 03:51 PM

Most of the posters over at the Jeopardy forum seem to agree that is was a bad decision:

http://boards.sonypictures.com/boards/showthread.php?t=21673

ouryL

03-08-2007, 07:28 PM

I suppose if she wrote Faukland Island, it might have counted correct.

astorian

03-08-2007, 10:50 PM

I didn't see the episode, so I have no idea of the precise deatils of the show.

But in this case, was the missing "d" a simple oversight, or did the contestant wait too long and start writing too late to complete her response?

My guess is, if she'd spelled it "Fawklands," they'd have accepted the badly spelled answer. But the missing "d" may have indicated she just ran out of time, and hadn't entered enough of the answer to count it as correct.

Baffle

03-08-2007, 10:54 PM

I suspect it's because she misspelled it in a way that could be interpreted as not managing to finish in the allotted time.

Baffle

03-08-2007, 10:55 PM

Heh, I've actually met Robert K S in person. Small world. :o

Rigamarole

03-08-2007, 11:11 PM

I suspect it's because she misspelled it in a way that could be interpreted as not managing to finish in the allotted time.

But wouldn't she have just written "Falklan" instead of "Falklan Islands" were that the case?

Baffle

03-08-2007, 11:16 PM

Yeah, which is why it was probably a bad ruling. Alex doesn't have much imagination.

commasense

03-09-2007, 12:12 AM

Yeah, which is why it was probably a bad ruling. Alex doesn't have much imagination.Alex doesn't make the rulings. There off-camera officials who make the calls.

Walloon

03-09-2007, 01:11 AM

sciguy is correct, and that seems like a very harsh interpretation of that rule - how many people actually pronounce the d in "Falkland Islands?"I, and a lot of other people. "Falklan" and "Falkland" standing along might sound the same. But with "Islands" appended, they become pronounced "Falklan Nislands" vs. "Falklan Dislands"

Ins&Outs&What-have-yous

03-09-2007, 08:01 AM

I remember from an episode 6-8 years ago a Final Jeopardy where the correct question was 'Who are Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young?' One contestant wrote 'Who are Crosby, Still, Nash, & Young?' and it was scored as incorrect since he left the 's' off the end of 'Stills.'

Frylock

03-09-2007, 09:43 AM

I, and a lot of other people. "Falklan" and "Falkland" standing along might sound the same. But with "Islands" appended, they become pronounced "Falklan Nislands" vs. "Falklan Dislands"

I say it "Falklanislands," no "d."

-FrL-

panache45

03-09-2007, 10:28 AM

As with any other game (or quiz) show, they have the right to make whatever rules they want, so long as the contestants are aware of the rules ahead of time. Anyone who watches the show regularly knows that they don't penalize for spelling, so long as you've got the correct pronunciation. All contestants, including this woman, know about this rule, and she should have known that the correct pronunciation does include the "d" sound. And the fact that she did write "Islands" means that she didn't run out of time (which would not have changed anything anyway). And by the way, many of us do pronounce the "d."

If you feel sorry for her, imaging being one of the other contestants (who supposedly spelled it correctly) if the judges had ruled in her favor.

I don't feel nearly as sorry for her, as I do for that kid a few weeks ago, who lost because he didn't wager enough.

Frylock

03-09-2007, 10:55 AM

As with any other game (or quiz) show, they have the right to make whatever rules they want, so long as the contestants are aware of the rules ahead of time. Anyone who watches the show regularly knows that they don't penalize for spelling, so long as you've got the correct pronunciation. All contestants, including this woman, know about this rule, and she should have known that the correct pronunciation does include the "d" sound. And the fact that she did write "Islands" means that she didn't run out of time (which would not have changed anything anyway). And by the way, many of us do pronounce the "d."

I just don't agree that the d has to be pronounced in order for it to be a correct pronunciation.

And though its not relevant, I'm willing to bet that the majority of people who claim they do pronounce the d in fact do not.

I had a friend once, by the way, who insisted that "truck" should be pronounced with a 't' sound initially rather than a 'ch' sound. But every time she said "truck" she said it with the 'ch' sound. I'd tell her, "say 'truck'" and she'd say "chruck," then I'd say "see, you said it with a 'ch'!" and she would insist she hadn't done so.

-FrL-

ShibbOleth

03-09-2007, 11:06 AM

Would it have counted had she spelled it "Las Islas Malvinas"?

ivylass

03-09-2007, 11:41 AM

One FJ sticks out in my mind..it was some obscure political question involving what two states did something or other, and the woman who got it right forgot to phrase it in the form of a question. She was the only one to get it right, and even Alex was starting to congratulate her, until he had to backpedal because the judges called her on it.

The look of horror on her face was heartbreaking.

Walloon

03-09-2007, 12:08 PM

One FJ sticks out in my mind..it was some obscure political question involving what two states did something or other, and the woman who got it right forgot to phrase it in the form of a question. She was the only one to get it right, and even Alex was starting to congratulate her, until he had to backpedal because the judges called her on it.

The look of horror on her face was heartbreaking.Are you sure it was a Final Jeopardy question? During the commercial break before Final Jeopardy, the contestants are told, and allowed to write on their screens, the correct interrogative word (Who, What, Where, When, etc.) that will begin the Final Jeopardy question.

ivylass

03-09-2007, 01:30 PM

It was absolutely FJ. She had written down the two states, but forgot to put "What are" in front of it.

This was several years ago, so maybe the reminder is a recent addition?

Bryan Ekers

03-09-2007, 01:32 PM

Would it have counted had she spelled it "Las Islas Malvinas"?
Only if the Argentinians had won.

h.sapiens

03-09-2007, 01:38 PM

It was absolutely FJ. She had written down the two states, but forgot to put "What are" in front of it.

This was several years ago, so maybe the reminder is a recent addition?

They've done since at least late 1994, which was the first time I was on. I suppose it's possible that she was distracted during the commercial break and forgot to write down the "What" part when the contestant coordinators came around.